Ways to Connect

Larry comments on our unseasonably warm December we've experienced (with no sub-zero temps reported by the NOAA!) in part due to the abundance of cloudy days so far this winter. Tomorrow is perihelion, when the earth will be at its closest point to the sun in its annual revolution.

Every year, on the last Backyard Almanac of December, Larry Weber makes a request that has nothing to do phenology or the natural world: he just wants to hear John McCutcheon's song, "Christmas in the Trenches." So this year, we decided to make some additional information about the song - and the story behind it - clickable for other fans.

Naturalist Larry Weber continues to hold out hope for what he calls a "healthy November" ... his heart soars with each freeze, but plummets again with each thaw. So far, November is averaging about ten degrees above normal.